Facilities

The Michael D. Eisner Center for Performing Arts

The Eisner Center houses state-of-the-art stages and rehearsal spaces, numerous classrooms and offices, as well as many open spaces especially configured to encourage interdisciplinary activity, offering performing arts students, faculty and programs more than 108,000 square feet of transformational space.

Performance Spaces

Sharon Martin Hall

Sharon Martin Hall is a flexible, state-of-the-art 400-seat proscenium theatre built with the ability to accommodate a wide variety of performances. Acoustics can be adjusted to deaden the space for amplified sound—or liven it for acoustic and orchestral performances. A mechanical pit lift provides for a full orchestra pit and enables several different stage configurations.

Burke Recital Hall

More intimate performances are held in Burke Recital Hall, which seats 225 audience members. Built in 1972, and now fully integrated with the Eisner Center, Burke is home to many recitals and student productions. A full remodel in 2018 added a 6-foot stage extension, a new audio system, and theatrical lighting.

Performances are also held in Denison’s iconic Swasey Chapel.

Rehearsal Spaces

The Eisner Center holds several flexible rehearsal spaces:

• The Burke Rehearsal Room offers a large space for chamber ensembles.
• The Large Rehearsal Space, which can hold 156 seats, is exactly the same size as the Sharon Martin stage, allowing rehearsals to be in the same configuration as performances.
• The Medium Rehearsal Space is equipped with retractable risers for choral rehearsals. Clerestory windows provide natural lighting and ceiling-mounted camera projects on a screen so students can observe the teacher playing.

Additional Resources

In addition to large instructor teaching studios, the Eisner Center holds eleven individual practice rooms, two dedicated percussion rooms, and five chamber rehearsal rooms, all with sound isolation, as well as a state-of-the-art recording studio and music library. Pianos are available for practice; in addition, a piano lab is used for courses. There are also plenty of lockers so you don’t have to carry your instrument up and down the hill.

A computer lab with ten stations is available for student use in Eisner, and an additional 18 stations are in the MIX Lab facility in Mulberry House across the street, where students in all disciplines work and collaborate. The MIX Lab computer stations have software and peripherals installed for creating computer music, and a state-of-the-art studio for recording music and voice.